Pan filling machine



Dec. 30, 1952 M. w. BAKER ET AI. 2,623,675

PAN FILLING MACHINE Filed Nov. 15, 1948 j 20 In merz far.

Ma' Merle WEQEI; Far/f5 11.275617,

Patented Dec. 30, 1952 PAN FILLING MACHINE Merle W. Baker, Forrest F. Beil, Charles F. Curtis, Ill, and Edward A. Patton, Clinton, Iowa, assignors to Curtis Companies Incorporated, Ciinton, Iowa, a corporation of iowa Application November 13, 1948, Serial No. 59,902

(Cl. 22B- 95) 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a machine for lling shallow pans with a layer of granular material oi uniform thickness.

Reference is made to our copending application Serial No. 28,158, entitled Board of Compressed Cellulose Material and Method for Manufacturing the Same, nled May 20, 1948 (now forfeited). The method disclosed in said copending applica tion involves the iilling, with granular material, of a pan that may be Warped or twisted or may be provided with marginal shelves or ledges or may be formed with a central shallow depression. Nevertheless, the granular material is to be distributed over the bottom of said pan as a layer of uniform thickness. The problem of lling such pans with a layer of granular `material. of uniform thickness is also encountered in other processes, particularly Where molding of the granular material contained in the pans is to be carried out.

It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a pan-illing machine which Will assure a uniform depth of granular material being placed in the pan regardless oi any warping, twisting or other deviations in the pan bottom from latness..

With these and other objects in View, the inu vention consists in the construction, arrangement and combinations of various parts of our device wherein the objects contemplated are at tained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the pan lling machine;

Figure 2 is a partial vertical sectional vieur of the machine shown in Figure l;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a pan to be iilled; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged section view oi the pan as partially filled With a layer of granular ma terial.

Referring specifically to the drawings for a detailed description of the invention, numeral 2i] designates an elongated table for supporting f the pan filling machine. Side members 2l extend upwardly from the long margins of the table top and have angle irons 22 aiiiXed to the outsides thereof. Additional shorter side members 23 rest on the tops of the boards il and have angle irons 2.4 attached to the outsides thereof. A hopper 25 is supported from the tops of the side members 23.

The hopper 25 serves as a receptacle for granu lar material and delivers the same to a belt system described in greater detail hereinbelow. The pans which are lled by the machine/areshown generally at 2S. A continuous belt 2S and a ser ond continuous belt 3l are provided for conveying the granular material to the pans and also for conveying the Three or more) rollers 35, 3l and 353 are provided for guiding and driving the lower continuous belt 3l. Two rollers 39 and M are provided for guiding and driving the upper continuous belt 29. The roller 3l for belt 3| is driven by a chain t2, which engages a sprocket 43 connected to a shaft i4 for the roller 3l. Bearings i5 are supported on each angle iron 22 for the shaft riti. The shaft Mi extends through apertures 2 la. in the side members 2 E. The'chain i is driven from any suitable source of power, such as an electric motor (not shown). Two additional sets of bearings 'it and 4l are supported on each angle iron 22 to accommodate the rollers and it, respectively.

The shaft M for the roller 3l is provided with a sprocket i8 at one end thereof which drives a chain 455 engageable with a sprocket 5i, which is secured to a shaft F12 for the roller Lil. A bearing 53 is supported on each of the angle irons 24 for the shaft 52, and a bearing 5d is supported from each of the angle irons 2li for the shaft or roller 39.

A second sprocket 55 is secured to shaft 52 and drives a chain which engages with a sprocket 5l secured to a shaft 5S for driving a stirring device having stirring rods or fingers 53. The rotation of the ngers 53 maintains the mixed pulverized material in the hopper .25 in loose condition, so that it will fall by gravity ontothe belt 2B, Bearings Si are provided on each side of the machine for the shait 5t of the mixing device. A member is .provided at each side of the machine vadjacent the upper reach or the belt 2t, in order to guide the belt, and also to prevent mixed pulverized material from spilling off the sides of the belt. Angie irons E3 are secured to the hopper 25, and a slide 5t is guided by the angle irons t3. Obviously, the slide Sli may be moved to open or close the outlet from the hopper 25 the desired amount, so that approximately the proper amount o1 mixed pulverized material will be delivered to the belt 2Q.

A doctor bar assembly is shown generally at E5, and comprises a pulley E5 adapted to be driven by a V-belt (not shown) from any suitable source of power, preferably the same electric motor which operates the other parts of the pan lling machine. A rotatable ball bearing is eccentrically connected to the pulley 96, and a pair of guide members 68 are engaged by the ball bearing member 6l to impart reciprocating motion to`the doctor bar 69, to Which the guide members 68 are secured. The doctor lbar 69 is reciprocated between rollers 1| provided on both sides of the machine. The rollers are supported'in a pair of brackets 12.

The pan 28 may comprise a flat base member 13 which has an angle shaped flange 1'4 secured thereto by rivets 15. The horizontal portion I6 of the angle 'I4 overlies the base plate 'i3 .for the purpose described in said copending application. The granular material is shown in Figure 4 by the numeral ll.

In the operation of the above described machine, the mixing device 59 maintains a granular material in loose form. The slide 84 is first adjusted to control the -amount of granular material which is to be deliveredvto the belt 29. The pans 28 are filled with a uniform depth of granular material, regardless of any warping or twisting or other deviations of the bottom of the pan from fiatness. This is accomplished by delivering a predetermined Ythickness of the granular material on the belt 29 carried -by the two upper rollers 39 and 4|.

The belt 29 carries the material toward the right, as viewed in Figure l, so that `the material is discharged from the right hand end of the upper reach of the belt 29 into the pans 28. The pans 28 are carried along successively toward the right, as viewed in Figure 1, by the upper reach of the belt 3|. As stated before, the belt 3| is carried and driven by the three lower rollers 38, 3l and 38. The speed of the belts 29 and 3| is synchronized to .produce a uniform thickness of mixed material in the pan.

The belts 29 and 3| can also be driven in opposite directions. As a matter of fact, driving the two belts in opposite directions prevents stratiiication of material in the pans. Thus, when the two belts are driven in the same direction, the finer particles of the deposited material tend to be concentrated near the bottom surface of the pans. When the two belts are driven in opposite directions, no such vstratification of relatively fine material occurs.

As the material falls from the hopper 25 onto the belt 29, the doctor bar 69 is reciprocated back and forth to smooth off the material and insure that the proper thickness is delivered to the trays 28. The doctor bar 69 is Aadjustable vertically by any suitable means (not shown); in order to vary the thickness of the material which is delivered to the belt 29. Obviously, it is not desirable to deliver too much excess material to the belt 29. The slide 64 permits the operator to control this factor.

If the thickness of the material delivered to the belt 29 is uniform, `then a uniform thickness of material will cover every part of the bottom of the pan 28. Therefore, if the pan is Warped, the amount of material delivered to the Warped portion is unchanged, and the thickness and density of the product will be the same throughout. Figure 4 shows how a relatively thin layer of granular material deposited in the pan 28, as in the initial stage of filling the pan, will be characterized by uniform thickness in spite of the irregular shape of the bottom of the pan.

Some changes may be made without departing from the real spirit and purpose of our invention, and it is our intention to cover by our claims any modified forms which may be reasonably included Within their scope Without sacricing any of the advantages thereof.

We claim as our invention:

l. Apparatus for delivering flowable granular material to containers having a substantially flat bottom, said apparatus comprising a hopper adapted to hold said material and having a discharge aperture at its lower end, an upper belt conveyor having an upper reach disposed to receive directly material discharged from said hopper .through said aperture, a pair of horizontally extending members disposed adacent the moving edges of the upper reach of said upper bent conveyor, a doctor blade disposed for longitudinal reciprocation across the upper surfaces of said longitudinally extending members past the said extremity of said upper conveyor to denne in coopera-tion with said members and with the upper reach of said upper conveyor a generally rectangular aperture through which said material is carried by said upper belt conveyor after discharge from said hopper onto said upper belt conveyor whereby said material is formed on said upper belt conveyor into a bed of substantially uniform thickness throughout its width, said upper belt conveyor being arranged to discharge said material in said bed continuously and at a uniform rate .as a steadily uniform falling stream of material, a lower conveyor extending in general parallelism with said upper conveyor beyond one extremity thereof and adapted to move said containers successively in one direction whereby said containers are successively filled as the containers are moved past the said extremity of said upper conveyor, said falling stream of granular material then being deposited in said moving containers as a 'layer of substantially uniform thickness, means for moving said conveyors at predetermined relative speeds, and means for reciprocating said doctor blade.

2. A device according to claim 1 in which said longitudinally extending members are formed with aligned transverse grooves past the extremity of said upper conveyor, said doctor blade being reciprocable in said grooves.

MERLE W. BAKER. FORREST F. BEIL. CHARLES F. CURTIS, Il. EDWARD A. PATTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record Ain the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,779,209 Davis Oct. 21, 1930 2,273,735 Raymer 1 Feb. 17, 1942 2,440.354 Auberman Apr. 27. 1948 

